Beijing is calling for restraint amid exacerbating tensions between the United States and North Korea, warning that there would be no winners in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula.
“We urge all parties to refrain from inflammatory or threatening statements or deeds to prevent irreversible damage to the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
If Pyongyang and Washington start a war “multiple parties will lose, and no one will win,” he said, according to comments cited by The Washington Post and reported by the Chinese Xinhua news agency.
“It is not the one who espouses harsher rhetoric or raises a bigger fist that will win,” Wang added, while renewing Beijing’s support for revival of “dialogue,” through “official or unofficial, through one channel or dual channels, bilateral or multilateral.”
The United States has reportedly said it is ready to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea if officials believe Pyongyang is going to go through with a nuclear weapons test. President Donald Trump is signaling a tough response to North Korean regime’s provocative moves.
Citing multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials, NBC News reported that the U.S. is prepared to launch the strike against North Korea with conventional weapons.
Officials said a nuclear test could come as soon as this weekend, according to NBC.
The U.S. strike could include missiles and bombs, cyber and special operations on the ground, the report said.
The danger of such an attack by the U.S. is that it could provoke the volatile and unpredictable North Korean regime to launch its own blistering attack on its southern neighbor.
America has two destroyers that can shoot Tomahawk cruise missiles in the area, according to the network. One of the destroyers is located 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear test site.
There are also American heavy bombers located in Guam. Earlier this week, it was reported that the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group was headed to that area.
In a statement Thursday, North Korea issued a warning to the U.S. — should it take action — of a “merciless retaliatory strike.”
“By relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula, the US is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war,” North Korea’s statement said.
U.S. officials said any strike would require South Korea’s permission.
In Washington, President Trump on Thursday tweeted that he has “great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea.”
“If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A.,” the president tweeted.
In comments to the media, Trump said he has developed a chemistry with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who has pledged cooperation on addressing the North Korean issue.
If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner. It is not the one who espouses harsher rhetoric or raises a bigger fist that will win.”
North Korea’s vice-foreign minister, Han Song-ryol, earlier warned it would not “keep its arms crossed” in the event of a preemptive US strike and would conduct a nuclear test when it saw fit.
